Undefeated UFC welterweight contender, Ian Garry has promised to land the Octagon back to the Emerald Island for the first time since 2014 before the close of this year – if not the beginning of next year, as he prepares to return to active competition this weekend against Kenan Song at UFC 285.
Garry, a former undisputed welterweight champion under the banner of the Graham Boylan-led Cage Warriors banner, looks to improve to 4-0 under the UFC banner this weekend on the UFC 285 pay-per-view card, clashing with Song as he puts his unbeaten 10-0 record on the line.
In his Octagon debut, Portmarnock native, Ian Garry stopped Jordan Williams with a buzzer-beating first round knockout at UFC 268 in Madison Square Garden, before turning in impressive unanimous decision results over both Darian Weeks, and Gabe Gabriel – the most recent of which back in July of last year during International Fight Week.
Ian Garry continues campaign to land on UFC card alongside Conor McGregor
Sharing his intentions to land on a card alongside fellow Dubliner, former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor in the future, Garry, now under the tutelage of Henri Hooft at Kill Cliff FC in Deerfield Beach, Florida – claimed it was a no-brainer to feature both on the same card.
“Putting me and Conor (McGregor) on the same card is just obvious,” Ian Garry told TalkSPORT reporter, Jordan Ellis. “You’ve got the biggest start the sport has ever seen coming back against somebody who is equally as loved by the fans in (Michael) Chandler.”
“It would be a massive, massive platform for me to go out there and put somebody to sleep and just keep proving what I already know to the fans,” Ian Garry explained.
Expressing his desire to fight in his native Ireland – in what would come as the UFC’s first venture to the island since an O2 Arena show in 2014 where McGregor headlined against Diego Brandao, Garry admitted that while an Aviva Stadium or Croke Park show was unlikely, the Octagon will most definitely return to Dublin soon.
“As much as I would love it, I don’t think they (the UFC) are going to do Croke Park, Aviva Stadium, or anything of the likes purely for the fact of timing. I’m going to bring the UFC back to Dublin, I’ll do that. Don’t worry, that’s happening. I’ll bring them back at the end of the year or the start of next [year]. They are coming back.”